NovaCustom NUC Box mini PC has an Intel Meteor Lake processor and open source firmware

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NovaCustom is a Dutch company that sells computers that put an emphasis on privacy and security features. For the past few years the company has been selling laptops that are available with a choice of Windows or several different GNU/Linux distributions. And more recently the company started loading its notebooks computers with open source firmware rather than a proprietary BIOS/UEFI solution.

Now NovaCustom is taking pre-orders for its first small desktop computer. The NovaCustom NUC Box is up for pre-order for about $800 and up, and it should begin shipping in September.

One thing to keep in mind is that the starting price is for a barebones model with an Intel Core Ultra 5 125H Meteor Lake processor but no memory, storage, or wireless card. And it represents a pre-order discount: customers who place an order before August 1st can use the code PRESALE to save 10%.

And that makes this a rather expensive mini PC when you consider that the NovaCustom NUC Box is basically a rebranded ASRock NUC BOX-100H that current sells for around $515 and up. It's also a generation old – Intel's Meteor Lake-H chips were released in 2023 and ASRock has already introduced a newer NUC BOX-200H series mini PC with Intel Arrow Lake-H chips. It should be available soon for around $550 and up.

That said, what you get if you order from NovaCustom instead of another vendor is a system that comes loaded with Dasharo Coreboot firmware, an open source solution that provides users with a lot of control over their system. Customers can also have Ubuntu, Fedora, Debian, Linux Mint, Pop!_OS, or other GNU/Linux distributions installed for free or pay extra for Windows (either as a standalone operating system, in a dual-boot configuration with a Linux distro, or in a virtual machine).

NovaCustom also offers a 3-year warranty and free shipping for repairs covered by that warranty.

In terms of hardware, the NUC Box is available with up to an Intel Core Ultra 7 255H processor and has two SODIMM slots with support for up to 96GB of total DDR5-5600 memory, and support for up to three storage devices:

1 x M.2 2280 PCIe 4.0 x4

1 x M.2 2242 PCIe 4.0 x1

1 x 2.5″ SATA 3 HDD or SSD

The mini PC measures 117.5 x 110 x 49mm (4.63″ x 4.6″ x 1.93″) and has a set of ports that includes:

1 x Thunderbolt 4

1 x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C (with DisplayPort Alt Mode)

3 x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A

2 x HDMI 2.1

2 x 2.5 GbE LAN

1 x 3.5mm audio

NovaCustom offers a choice of wireless cards including an Intel AX210/211 card with support for WiFi 7 and Bluetooth 5.3 or an Intel BE200 card with WiFi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4. You can also opt for no wireless module at all, although that only saves you a couple of dollars.

The system comes with a 19V/90W power supply, and while NovaCustom says the computer is "whisper quiet," it does have a fan for active cooling.

via Phoronix

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